"Big Jim" Miller, the storyboard head, just dropped on Twitter that he voiced King Sombra. I could have sworn it sounded like Frank Welker, so kudos t o him for evoking one of the most prolific VAs of all time.

Huh, the commentators mentioned something there, all the crystal ponies we see are Earth ponies, but when the mane6 temporarily change, only Cadance is anything other than an Earth pony, all the horns and wings disappear.

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Just rewatched that bit - nope, RD and 'Shy still have their wings, and Rarity, Twi and Shining still have horns.

Huh, the commentators mentioned something there, all the crystal ponies we see are Earth ponies, but when the mane6 temporarily change, only Cadance is anything other than an Earth pony, all the horns and wings disappear.

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Just rewatched that bit - nope, RD and 'Shy still have their wings, and Rarity, Twi and Shining still have horns.

That "throwing Cadance" moment is never going to be lived down, we've seen some silly things these past couple of years but, no.

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There was a similar bit near the end of the wedding two-parter where she gets thrown from the mine cart. It's like the animators want to justify giving her wings so they keep throwing her off of stuff.

That "throwing Cadance" moment is never going to be lived down, we've seen some silly things these past couple of years but, no.

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There was a similar bit near the end of the wedding two-parter where she gets thrown from the mine cart. It's like the animators want to justify giving her wings so they keep throwing her off of stuff.

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Yeah the idea seems to be she's a mortal Alicorn so she can damn well walk/fly everywhere instead.

Wow, that was a lot better upon rewatching. The first time through I kept wondering why elements central to Twilight's story, like the Door of Fear, got introduced and then promptly abandoned. Going back with the ending in mind reveled the story's secret: it's actually a Spike episode. (!) Bearing that mind, everything clicks. It only looked like a Twilight episode because she thought it was about her, but it was really about her having to cede control to somebody else.

It does play out that way on reflection. Everyone else had their little parts in it though.

Xyro popped the 1080 video up on Youtube, links are at EqD as usual, but already rewatched the 480 in Sabersparks livestream with another chat going, was kind of fun apart from him going off on tangents all the time.

My favourite 'meta moment' (so to speak) was Rarity getting all excited upon learning that there are crystal ponies. That's how I reacted when I first heard about it.

Even though he didn't feature that heavily in the episode as a character King Sombra made for a great evil background villain. I also really liked the dark moments, like the dark magic.
And is it just me or is Celestia pretty scary when she's not being nice regarding what she can do? If I was a little kid I probably would have broken out in tears during her presentation of the Crystal Empire.
Lots of nice little character moments for the mane six - ninja and court jester Pinkie Pie, the interaction between Rainbow Dash and Applejack, Rarity's handcrafting etc. - and of course Spike who really got a chance to shine.
I also like Cadance and Shining Armor and thought it was nice to see them again so soon. Also, we got more Luna.

I'm pretty sure some of the stuff from the episode will get revisited in later episodes or for the season finale. I'm looking forward to that.

The songs were good, too - not as spectacular as some but they got a nice rhythm. The "I wasn't prepared" song will probably become one of my favourites.

I nearly died of a cuteness overdose when the little sheep were shown. OMG, they're soooooooo cute.

My favourite 'meta moment' (so to speak) was Rarity getting all excited upon learning that there are crystal ponies. That's how I reacted when I first heard about it.

Even though he didn't feature that heavily in the episode as a character King Sombra made for a great evil background villain. I also really liked the dark moments, like the dark magic.
And is it just me or is Celestia pretty scary when she's not being nice regarding what she can do? If I was a little kid I probably would have broken out in tears during her presentation of the Crystal Empire.
Lots of nice little character moments for the mane six - ninja and court jester Pinkie Pie, the interaction between Rainbow Dash and Applejack, Rarity's handcrafting etc. - and of course Spike who really got a chance to shine.
I also like Cadance and Shining Armor and thought it was nice to see them again so soon. Also, we got more Luna.

I'm pretty sure some of the stuff from the episode will get revisited in later episodes or for the season finale. I'm looking forward to that.

The songs were good, too - not as spectacular as some but they got a nice rhythm. The "I wasn't prepared" song will probably become one of my favourites.

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The songs were good. They were a bit workmanlike, but they were good, yes.

I nearly died of a cuteness overdose when the little sheep were shown. OMG, they're soooooooo cute.

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Oh, the little sheeps were so adorable! I thought Fluttershy was going to melt!

This is the first season of FiM where I have the Hub in HD. I must say the show looks spectacular in high-definition—amazing colors, and you notice little touches you may not have seen before.

The episode really kicked off with a bang, with a short, dramatic teaser that hooked me. (Interestingly, no new intro for S3.)

Seeing Luna and Celestia together was really cool, including their implied team-up in the flashbacks to the origin of the disappearance of the Crystal Empire. I also though the brief bit with their cutie marks behind them was a nice visual touch. Speaking of Celestia, with her use of holograms, dark magic and quickly putting the books together—she really showed some of her power here.

The songs in this episode actually left a better first impression on me than the ones in “Canterlot Wedding.” Having two ensemble songs was a nice change, and I particularly liked the second song—it was quite catchy and different than most of the other songs in the show. (Still, neither beat “The Smile Song” or “Becoming Popular”) And, of course, William Anderson provided some awesome, epic at times, background scoring.

I liked that there was lots of continuity here—seeing not only Luna, but Cadence and Shining Armor. By the way, did anyone get a “Empire Strikes Back” vibe from Shining Armor's first appearance, especially with the word Empire right in the dialogue?

As far as funny moments go, Rarity truly stole the show here. She had so many great moments that perfectly fit her character: the scarves, the reaction to the Crystal empire, her hilarious reaction to Crystal ponies, her daydream, and her comment that she had to make a hat out of three pieces of hay and a drinking straw (“I made it work!”)

Twilight had some great funny moments too—from her initial test freak-out, her reaction to the library and the like. And, as someone who preferred research papers over multiple choice in college, I especially loved that bit too. Pinkie screaming she wanted a horn was funny, and the jousting scene between Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy was also great (poor Fluttershy!).

The plot was interesting, and I originally thought the door that Twilight “went through” led to an alternate universe. I also thought that the ensemble contributed more as a whole than the wedding episode, with some entertaining, some helping with the search, and so on.

I had no problems at all with King Sombre. Unlike Discord, I feel he was more of an imposing force of nature (kind of like Sauron from Lord of the Rings) and wasn't so much a dialogue-based villain as one that's always ready to sweep in when good fails.

I have to admit, I wasn't expecting Spike and Cadence to play such a big role in the end victory, but it worked for me.

Finally, the tease with Luna's book...verrrry interesting!

It's not my favorite two-parter (that still goes to “Return of Harmony”), but it's quite good, very enjoyable and a great way to start the season.

On a strict letter scale of A to F with no pluses or minuses, I give it an A.

(Also, I'm apparently glad I had to DVR it and watch it later--I didn't see the spoliery commercials nor the Gak-A-Thon.)

Luna's book is covered with Stars and Swirls, it was a much more obvious nod in HD, most of us watched it in SD and missed that, apparently Starswirl left behind works that could be used in instructing successors? could be cool to see Luna teach Twi for a while.

By the way, did anyone get a “Empire Strikes Back” vibe from Shining Armor's first appearance, especially with the word Empire right in the dialogue?

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Yes, although in retrospect the protection Shining Armor was wearing looked more like what the Augmemts wore in Star Trek II. But I definetely saw it as a sci-fi reference even though I couldn't quite place it at first.